4 ways to use therapeutic writing.

We have previously mentioned the importance of therapeutic writing and how it constitutes a super-rich tool for self-knowledge.

Many times, however, we do not know how to start using it. This article proposes 4 examples of ways in which therapeutic writing can be used to incorporate it daily as an expressive resource.

Initially, the famous private diary is a great option. Diary use is sometimes judged as childish. Currently, the idea of ​​having a newspaper has been renewed and modernized, taking the concept of Journaling. Journaling encompasses multiple modalities, from those that focus on something more guided and organizational to others that are freer and more creative.

I believe that Journaling should be adapted to the needs of each person, so there is no single correct way to do it. It is advisable to have a notebook where you can spontaneously write what you need to express. The notebook thus becomes a repository, a companion, and a reflection of the person's internal world.

Sensations, ideas, projects, emotions, stories, products of the imagination, dreams... can be poured onto these pages.

Specifically, we can think of 4 examples in which we can use writing in an expressive, therapeutic, and self-knowledge way.

1. Use writing to narrate what happened that day. This provides us with a concrete record and at the same time allows us to recognize what was happening to us throughout the day. Sometimes we reach extremes of anguish and anger without knowing where it comes from. The daily record allows us to locate what we experienced and to what extent it affected us emotionally. This record can also serve to observe in which areas we spend most of our energy, giving us answers and allowing us to raise awareness and redirect it at times when necessary.
2. Use writing to express a conflict. When we go through conflicts, sometimes we get easily confused. Not knowing how to get out of them or how to solve them. Writing the conflict allows us to better locate its elements, and helps us to clarify decisions. Writing helps us, in turn, to determine the true emotional impact that it has on us.
3. Use writing to decant and develop ideas. Many times, in creative and high-energy periods, we tend to be full of ideas and motivation. This state can produce anxiety, either from wanting to do everything now, from not knowing how to start or what to choose, or from feeling that those ideas may be lost or forgotten. Writing down the ideas is a way to give them a safe place, examine them thoroughly (How would it be carried out?) in order to later decide which one to start with, which ones are viable and which ones are not, etc.
4. Use writing to record memories. Writing is a good tool to explore the past. Speeches we hear, experiences we experience, achievements, difficult moments... It is an extremely valuable means of self-knowledge because it allows us to appeal to memory and revalue our history, helping us in acceptance and future projection.

Writing, as we have seen, presents multiple possibilities from a therapeutic point of view. Through it, we can investigate, fly over, rediscover, strengthen and discover aspects of our own that are sometimes overlooked and often forgotten.

 

Thank You